


Solangelo summer edition

by orphan_account



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth is smug, Coffee, Dorks, Ice Cream, Let’s play a game called How many things are inspired from real life, M/M, Mortal AU, Nico is a blushing mess, Pining, Pining!Will, Piper and Will brotp for the win, Probably some background ships but I haven’t decided which yet, Summer, They’re listening to Why Bother by Alison Weiss, Title In Progress, Will’s family is complicated, all the awkward things unfortunately, artist!Nico, because I don’t want to spoil, but it’s summer, but whats new, enjoy lmao, haha - Freeform, here we go again, hhhm hm Hm guess who the eyes belong to...., hinting of mututal pining, its a good somg, more tags as I post, so we don’t care for school, solangelo, theyre in high school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-05-29 18:05:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19405426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Sorry for that – it was my sister, she was asking why it took so long for me to get pizza” Will said and smiled. Nico looked away a little flushed. Will wanted to make a windows error sound. Will.exe has stopped working.In which Will is very pining and also oblivious. But hey, at least it’s summer. Right?So much pining guys.Solangelo because apparently that’s the only thing I can write. I’ll try to post as often as I can but I’m a procrastinator so we’ll see how this goes.





	1. Paintings, pizza and remember to wear your helmet

Spending his first day of summer painting his brothers apartment was not something Will had planned on. He had planned on sleeping in late and then beat Kayla in all the video games they could get their hands on.  
But somehow Lee had convinced the whole family to help him. Or not convinced, Lee had just been really sneaky when he had asked. He had texted Will a few minutes after school ended and Will being in a fog of relief said yes without as much as a second thought.  
He then managed to completely forget about it – until the next morning where he was waken up by his mother yelling that they were leaving in twenty minutes and that he needed to find some clothes that he wouldn’t miss if they needed to throw them out. After eating breakfast with a tired Kayla he was ordered to find the closest place that sold paint.  
He had seen a few pictures of the apartment and Will had to admit that it was nice. The only problem was the colour of the walls; they where dark red and Lee loudly exclaimed several times that the colour just wasn’t him and that they need to paint the walls anyway so why not change the colour. The drive to the place that sold paint didn’t take long – but choosing a colour did. Their mother Naomi kept insisting on just plain white but Lee said that white would be too boring. In the end they agreed on a light yellow, but they still bought the white paint to cover the dark red. 

The apartment was just as charming in real life as in the pictures – if not more. They got to work, Will taking the ceiling and the others taking a wall each. The first twenty minutes was hell but then Austin got the brilliant idea to put on some music and the mood changed drastically. The family had very different tastes in music but they could make it work.  
Will was glad that he had found some of his old clothes because after just half an hour he had managed to sit in some of paint they had spilled resulting in his pants being very heavy and very cold. The only thing good about that was that Kayla laughed her ass of. She then leaned against the wall getting her whole side covered in paint.  
The day went by in no time and they didn’t even realise how late it had gotten before Lee’s stomach let out a loud growl. It was tradition to eat pizza on painting days and Will offered to pick it up. They could have called the pizza place to get the pizza delivered but Will insisted that he needed to get out of the apartment and that this was a good reason. 

It was a good plan until Will realised that he couldn’t drive the car. But Will being the problem solver he was found Lee’s bike, quickly guessed the code to his chain lock and drove towards the pizza place.  
The pizza place he had in mind wasn’t long from Lee’s apartment but it was still a longer drive than if he was heading home. This didn’t bother Will because the weather was nice and the longer he could stay away from the smell of paint the better.  
While driving his thoughts drifted to his plans for the summer; he had been able to score a summer job in the local ice cream shop called Paradise ice cream. It was the best summer job he could imagine – working with his friends (Piper worked all year around and Magnus had scored summer job as well) and getting free ice cream. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost didn’t hear someone yelling “Hey! Solace!”  
His head snapped back trying to find out who had yelled after him and his eyes landed on Nico di Angelo and a girl he vaguely remembered as Annabeth Chase. He lifted his hand for a wave and was about answer him when his body suddenly flew through the air. He landed on his bag with a loud thud, his back feeling like it was being cracked open. He could only see the sky but it didn’t take long before a guy with dark hair and a blonde girl came to look at him resulting in the sky almost disappearing.  
The guy – Will realised – was Nico. Great job Solace – you’re probably the only person who can manage to look like a complete utter fool in front of the guy you liked without even saying a word. He was just glad none of his friends were there to laugh at his misery.  
“Are you okay?” Nico said looking a little worried and tried to help Will sit up. Will tried to crack a smile but it probably looked more like a grimace.  
“I’m fine – I should have looked where I was driving anyway” he somehow managed to stand up and Nico quickly followed. Annabeth who had taken the bike up handed it to Will. He thanked while trying not to show how sore his back was.  
“Good thing I was wearing my helmet” he said trying to make Nico a little less worried. He nodded confirming and looked a little less stressed out. Will looked over at Annabeth who was looking at Nico with an almost knowing look. Annabeth was actually a little terrifying Will realised. Not in the bad way just in a kinda impressing I-am-better-than-you-at-probably-everything-but-we’re-cool way. Then Will looked back at Nico who looked at Annabeth with a little frown on his face. It looked a little like they where having a telepathic conversation. Then Nico looked back at him with a small smile. Then the small smile turned into a confused smile.  
“Why are you covered in paint?” Nico said. Will looked down on his shirt – it was old and he should have thrown it out long ago. It didn’t help that it now also had several paint stains to match the ketchup stains that it already had. He was glad that his back was turned away form Nico and Annabeth because earlier Kayla had found it extremely funny to draw a dick on his back with the leftover white paint. He had then wanted to get back a her by drawing something on her face and it almost developed into a full on paint war. But their mom Latricia had stopped them just in time to save the yellow paint and Lee’s walls. Will silently thanked his mother for stopping the fight and saving him for even more embarrassment. Then he remembered that he also had managed to sit in some of the paint and then he was really glad that they couldn’t see his back. It kind of looked like he had pooped his pants – if his poop was white.  
“Lee is moving and we helped him paint his new apartment” Will said.  
“And the dick on your back?” Annabeth said with a raised eyebrow. Will’s face flushed. He really wanted to hide his face in his hands. Nico looked at his back. Then his eyes widened a little and he blushed. Will didn’t know why.  
“That’s a product of Kayla’s amazing sense of humour” Will tried to sound like he was cool and calm but at this point his face was the same colour as Lee’s walls as been before they had painted them over.  
“I’m sorry for distracting you” Nico said and touched Will’s shoulder. He then realised what he was doing and quickly pulled his arm back.  
Will didn’t really know what Nico and him were. Will would like to think that they were friends. That hadn’t talked that much in real life – but they texted a lot and the conversation always felt easy.  
Will knew he had a crush on Nico. It was actually quite damn obvious. But he didn’t know Nico that well so it wasn’t anything more than a small crush. Did he think that Nico was the most beautiful human he had ever seen? Yes, definitely. But it would be pretty weird to say that without any warning of some kind.  
“You’re Annabeth Chase right?” Will said – it would be pretty awkward if he accidentally called her a wrong name – and he really didn’t need to do more embarrassing things in front of anyone. Ever.  
Annabeth nodded and Will wanted to sigh loudly in relief.  
“I’m Will Solace” he said smiling. Annabeth smiled back at him – though her smile was more smug than his.  
“Oh I know” she said “I’ve heard so much ab-“ before she could finish Nico interrupted her.  
“Will! Is your back hurting?” He looked almost panicked. Annabeth didn’t stop looking smug. Will shook his head and shrugged.  
“A little I guess. It’s not bad – and luckily nothing happened to my bike. That would be bad since I’-“ Will was interrupted by his phone ringing.  
“It’s Kayla so I need to take this, it’ll take two seconds” he said pointing at his phone “what do you want Kayla?” he tried to sound as tired and annoyed as he could. Kayla answered with the same tone.  
“I want to know why my pizzas are taking so long to arrive. You’re slower than the delivery – which I had expected but this is taking to long I’m hungry” Will could hear a fast, loud song was playing in the background. He thought he also could her Austin and Naomi rapping along.  
“I was actually close to dying Kayla and all you care about is your pizza” Will did a dramatic pose even though Kayla couldn’t see it.  
“Stop whining - if anyone has it hard it’s definitely me! I’m dying because of the lack of food – which is your fault – and I’m forced to listen to our mother and brother trying to rap along to whatever song comes on, I am literally in hell William” she finished and Will thought that she probably did a dramatic pose too. He knew her too well. Will sighed deeply.  
“I’ll hurry up if you stop bothering me, brat” he said. Kayla mock gasped in response and ended the call immediately. Will smiled. Guess who isn’t getting a pineapple pizza he wrote to Kayla. She immediately answered with a lot of curse words and a weird way to say sorry. Will rolled his eyes and put his phone back in his pocket.  
“Sorry for that – it was my sister, she was asking why it took so long for me to get pizza” Will said and smiled. Nico looked away a little flushed. Will wanted to make a windows error sound. Will.exe has stopped working.  
“It’s totally fine” Annabeth said “not to sound rude or like I want you to leave but maybe you should get the pizza?”it looked like she wanted to say something more but stopped herself right before the words left her mouth. Will decided that he liked Annabeth. She was cool and she didn’t say things she didn’t need to.  
“You’re right – see you guys” he gave them a two finger salute and quickly drove away on his bike.

The pizzas were (to his luck) done surprisingly quickly and the ride back to the apartment was much faster than the ride to the pizza shop. He was welcomed like a god when he arrived with the pizzas and they began eating as soon as everyone had a place to sit on the floor.  
“So Will, why did it take so long with the pizza?” Latricia said while finishing her pizza slice number six. Will shrugged.  
“I ran into a friend from school and one of his friends – I also flew into the asphalt and nearly died but I’m fine so it’s cool” Kayla looked up.  
“Who from school?” She said mouth half full with a pizza slice. It looked really gross. Naomi scolded at her.  
“Nico he was hanging out with Annabeth ” Will didn’t want to talk about Nico and Annabeth because Kayla could 100% see Will’s crush (she knew him too well) and he didn’t think that his romantic life was something that his family should discuss over dinner.  
“Annabeth is that girl who goes to that special school for smart kids, right” Kayla said and Will nodded confirming.  
“Cool” Kayla said and the conversation topic moved onto something different. But Will’s mind kept going back to earlier. It was just his luck to meet the guy he liked and a terrifying (but cool) girl while wearing his oldest and most ill fitting clothes. He took another bite of his pizza. He was normally good at conversations and small talk. He wasn’t shy – not at all actually. But the situation had been a mess before he had even opened his mouth. Will was about to decide if this was going to be one of those memories he would think of in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep when his phone vibrated. He looked at it. He had gotten a text from Nico.  
From Nico: hey Will, I know this probably sound kinda out of the blue but would you like to hang out sometime?  
Will read it twice. Then he smiled. Maybe today hadn’t been a total disaster. He quickly typed his response.  
To Nico: yeah hanging out would be cool, are you free on Monday?  
From Nico: yeah, should we meet up at the park and like eat ice cream or something  
To Nico: good idea, see you!  
From Nico: see ya solace  
Will smiled down at his phone. He couldn’t wait for Monday.


	2. This is not a date. Even though it sure does look like one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Nico hang out. It’s nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I had a very hard time writing this, because even though a had a very detailed idea of how it would play out I just couldn’t get it out in words.
> 
> That’s also why I have no idea how this is, good bad? Who’s to say?
> 
> Well anyways, enjoy!

Or maybe he could wait for Monday. Sunday went by in a flash.  
At least Will did exactly what he had planned; waking up late and and beating Kayla in video games. They ate dinner and he fell asleep after watching a couple of movies with Austin and Kayla – all of them almost sweating to dead but having fun anyway.  
After a morning of anxious waiting he was finally sitting on the bus towards the park. He could have taken his bike but he wasn’t really in the mood for driving after what had happened the other day.   
He was looking out the window at the people passing by. The day was hot already and Will was glad that he’d decided on shorts and a t-shirt. The bus arrived at his stop right in front of the park and he walked off.  
Will liked the park a lot – he had a lot of good memories from it and at this time of year everything was beautiful and green.   
Against all the bright green Nico’s stood out like a sore thumb. He was wearing all black – turtleneck, skinny jeans, vans and a bomber jacket. Very fashionable actually.   
Will bumped his shoulder with Nico’s.  
“What’s up?”  
It was a little comedic how different their outfits were. Will was all bright colours and shirt sleeves and Nico looked like he was fashionably late for winter.   
“Not much” Nico shrugged. How he hadn’t died of the heat was a mystery to Will.   
“Aren’t you hot?” Will didn’t even realise what he was saying. Nico’s head snapped up and his cheeks reddened a little. Will wanted to facepalm. Good job, Solace.  
“I mean – uh I mean with all your clothes on, like it’s so hot outside and you’re wearing a jacket and all black clothes and uh yeah” Will stumbled over the words trying to correct his mistake. Nico relaxed a little.  
“Uh ha yeah I’m not that hot actually – I’m kinda used to this I guess?” He said it like it was a question that Will knew the answer to. He did not.   
“So, should we go get ice cream?” Will tried to break the awkward mood and began walking toward Paradise ice cream. Nico quickly followed him.  
A street musician was playing a catchy tune and Will nodded his head along to the beat. Nico laughed at him but began humming along. Will then began full on dancing and Nico joined him a little hesitant but still laughing.  
The walk wasn’t long and after a few minutes they could see the blue and yellow letters spelling Paradise ice cream. The red of the sign shined on Nico and his skin and hair looked red. He looked almost angelic (or demonic) in the bright sunlight. Get your act together, Solace. Drooling would really put a damper on the mood.   
“I can get you a discount” Will said – mostly to stop his own thoughts. He didn’t get crushes often but when he did – boy was he smitten.  
Nico looked up.  
“Hm?”  
“Because I work here – just over the summer though – but still, it’s pretty cool, so uh I thought it would be a good idea to do, uh yeah – because who doesn’t like ice cream? And in this weather something cold is always nice – even if you don’t really feel hot, you know? And if I could get ya a discount – even a little – then it would be worth it? Or at least better than a overpriced coffee shop somewhere that doesn’t even have good cakes so yeah uh I mean some people find them good but I just find them way too sweet you feel me? And even though the coffee or hot chocolate is good then the cake ruins it most of the time, like even I could make a cake better than that and I’m a mess in the kitchen” There was a lot of things Will was good at – rambling was one of them. But his small speech didn’t seem to annoy Nico, he just nodded along, smiling a little.  
The glass doors in the ice cream shop was wide opened and Piper was standing behind the counter. She was singing and dancing along to the song on the radio. Will grinned at her - not noticing Nico looking up at him. When Piper saw them she stopped singing and smiled at them.  
“What can I do for you lads?” She said leaning back on her feet. Nico raised an eyebrow almost smiling - clearly used to Pipers spunky behaviour. They could be good friends – Will realised – if they weren’t already.  
“What do you want Nico” Will looked down at Nico who quickly looked over at the ice cream.   
“Give me two seconds, I’m thinking” he said holding up his finger.   
“Take your time Nico” Piper grinned and looked over at Will who hadn’t looked away from Nico. He met her gaze and she wriggled her eyebrows. He frantically shook his head and she gave him a questioning look. Nico looked like he was about to say something – maybe his order – but Piper interrupted him.  
“Is this a date?” She asked straight to the point. Will cheeks reddened but Nico just shook his head.  
“Really McLean? I can’t hang out with a cute guy without you thinking that we’re dating?” Nico crossed his arms. Will’s cheeks got even redder. Piper smiled smugly but it didn’t look like Nico’s reaction surprised her.  
“You did just call him cute” she took a step forward.  
“I did, will you take my order now?” He took a step too.   
“I can, what flavours do you want?” Pipers whole attitude had changed in a span on about two words – she went from a smug detective to a puppy who had just gotten a treat and she had taken the ice cream scooper in her hands. While Nico gave her his order Will pulled himself together.   
“And you Will?” Piper looked at him and handed Nico his ice cream.  
“I uh” he swallowed his spit “I want a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of strawberry” Nico muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘basic’ and Will looked at him.   
“What did you just say?”  
Nico shrugged and smiled.  
“Hm? I didn’t say anything? Why would you think that?” Piper laughed and handed Will his ice cream.   
“Leave me and my chocolate and strawberry ice cream alone!” He said defensively holding up his hands and his ice cream.   
Nico laughed and Will took in a sharp intake of air. He felt like he was in a rollercoaster heading directly towards the ground.   
“It’s not my fault that you taste buds are as dry as a dessert” said Nico, still laughing. Will rolled his eyes to stop the heart eyes he knew he was making. Piper send him a knowing look and to avoid it Will hurriedly sat down in one of the tall red chairs. They weren’t comfortable at all but at least Will’s legs were long enough to reach the floor. Nico wasn’t so fortunate – his leg dangling back and forth in the air.   
They sat in silence – with only the music from the radio in the background - and ate their ice cream. It was nice, Will thought. The ice cream tasted amazing and it cooled him down – which was something he needed in the hot weather. The song on the radio changed into something Will hadn’t heard before. He nodded his head along to the beat it was pretty catchy, he had to admit.   
He didn’t notice that Nico’s cheeks had reddened as soon as he recognised the song. Piper gave Nico a knowing look – apparently that was the only thing their friends did nowadays.

After eating ice cream and saying goodbye to Piper they walked around aimlessly in the park. They talked about everything and nothing and like over text the conversation never felt forced. As time went by Nico also seemed to relax. He began talking louder and laughing more. When Will had told him a particularly bad joke he almost couldn’t stand on his legs because he was laughing so hard.  
Will was always a sucker for seeing people comfortable and happy – and seeing Nico like this made his heart beat faster. He couldn’t remember what they had been talking about before the joke, but it didn’t really seem to matter. Nico was laughing and Will was smiling and everything seemed kind of perfect. All out of breath Nico had his hand on a tree to stop himself for falling over. He looked like something from a Polaroid picture that you could see in a museum. Will had never wanted to be a painter more in his life – he wished that he had enough talent to paint Nico’s beauty. And not only his hair and his eyes, but also his personality. Nico made Will feel like he was listening to his favourite song for the hundredth and the only first time. And if Will had to be honest, it scared him. He knew Nico, but not well. They had barely hung out and what he already felt for Nico was so much more than all his earlier crushes. And he didn’t have a chance. Even though he knew that Nico liked boys he also knew that Nico was a private mostly introverted person and that it was surprising that he had reached out to Will. For now – Will thought – we’ll be friends, and that would be more than enough.

It was first when the sun began setting that they realised how late it had gotten.  
After walking around for a good amount of time they had decided to sit down under a tree and continue their conversation.   
It was a long time since Will last had talked to a person for that long and he felt great. He also was beginning to understand why he liked Nico so much, while talking to him he had just wanted to know more. Will could make a terrible pun about it but you wouldn’t want that.  
“I probably have to go home soon” Nico said, making no motion to stand up.  
“Yeah same, I’m hungry” Will didn’t move either.  
“God I need some food” Nico yawned. His phone began ringing and when he saw who the caller was he smiled.  
“Sorry I have to take this” he lifted his phone to his ear.  
“Hi, yeah I’m on my way” there was a short pause.  
“Can you wait for me? I’ll be home in about twenty minutes, is that fine?” the person on the other end said something and Nico nodded – probably forgetting that the person couldn’t see him.  
“Okay, love you too see ya” he said and the person on the other end ended the call.  
“It was my sister, I better head home” he stood up and offered his hand to Will. Will looked at it for a couple of seconds before he realised what Nico was doing. He took Nico’s hand and it felt warm and (no matter how cliche I sounded) like it fitted perfectly with his own.   
“You’re taking the bus right” Nico asked and Will nodded.  
“Good, we’re taking the same bus, right?” Will nodded again. Nico smiled. The sky was clouded but the weather was still hot. They began walking.  
“This is my favourite kind of weather” Nico said looking up. Will did too.  
“When the sky is grey?” He could see the appeal, the sky looked beautiful and it set a mood that couldn’t quite be described.  
“Yeah but without rain. I like rain but I’m tired of people complaining about it – so this is a good alternative” Nico took a deep breath, smelling the air. That was when Will could feel the first drop of rain. His eyes widened and he looked down at Nico.   
Nico was looking right back at him. Oh no they thought simultaneously. And then the sky and the ground became one.   
The rain was heavy and fast. After just twenty seconds they were both completely wet. And when they finally arrived under the small roof at the buss stop it looked like they had taken a bath with their clothes on. Looking at each other none of them could help but laugh. A whole day of sweating and they ended up a little freezing and completely soaked Nico took his jacket of and tried to squeeze the water out of it.  
“The bus will be here in thirteen minutes” Will checked the bus app after texting his moms that he was waiting for the bus and that they should wait a bit with dinner.  
“I guess we’ll just have to wait?” Nico shrugged and sat down. Will quickly followed nodding in agreement. They sat in silence just looking at the rain. People were running to get home before being soaked or walking under an umbrella enjoying the sound of rain. The view would make a good aesthetic picture Will concluded.   
“I had fun today” Will said.  
“I had too” Nico had looked down at his shoes and he kept looking at his shoes and Will didn’t understand why. They had hung out the whole day and talked about hundreds of different things. Had Will said something wrong? What had happened? Will was about to ask what it was about when the bus arrived.   
They had it almost for themselves, it was only them, an old lady, a mom with her child, a teenager with headphones on and the bus driver. Nico took a seat by the window and Will sat down besides him.   
“Which stop is yours?” Nico asked. Will thought about it for a second.  
“Oh it’s only two stops” Will’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He decided to ignore it – it could wait for now. Nico sighed, he looked tired.  
“Uh okay well, mine is a bit longer” Nico said. It looked like he was about to sigh again but he stopped himself.   
Will didn’t know why but the mood had changed so drastically. Before stepping into the bus they had laughed and talked a everything had been light and funny. Now it felt like they had just broken up. Which they hadn’t because they had never been in a relationship but you get the point.   
Traffic was light and not long after Will had to say goodbye. Nico gave him a small smile and waved goodbye. Will wanted to say something- ask what happened that had caused Nico to be silent – but he just waved back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> And if you have any ideas, have seen any spelling mistakes or just want to scream - please comment! 
> 
> Have a great day! See you in the next chapter!


	3. Friends, sketches and a little coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will freaks out. Luckily for him Lou Ellen and Cecil is there to help.  
> But maybe Will didn’t need to worry so much in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I’m back with another chapter! This is a lot longer than usual but I just couldn’t find a good place to end the chapter...   
> anyway I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (I try to update every Saturday but I can’t be 100% that I can do that every week so it’s a good idea to subscribe)

Will had been laying in his bed for a solid three hours. Latricia had asked if everything was okay and he just shrugged. That was Will language for leave-me-alone-for-now-I’ll-talk-to-someone-later. He was supposed to be outside enjoying the weather and hanging out with his friends but right now he just wanted to do nothing. Or not nothing – he was listening to a podcast so he wouldn’t be bored. His mom had looked a little worried, but she knew Will. He would come to talk to somebody when he was ready.  
A hand knocked on his windows.  
Or someone would come to him.  
Cecil’s face peered through the glass and the hand that wasn’t holding onto a branch made a motion that meant ‘open the window’. Will rolled his eyes, paused the podcast and opened the window. Cecil tumbled in and after him came Lou Ellen who elegantly landed on her feet.   
His friend coming in through his window was not something that didn’t happen often. The reason he knew Cecil was because they were neighbours and their rooms were right next to each other. They had quickly discovered that it took much less time to just crawl through their window into the tree in Will’s garden and then into the others window. When Lou Ellen has joined their friend group not long after they had met, she had been ecstatic about the idea and thus was a tradition born to never walk into Will’s house through his front door. The reason that Lou Ellen and Cecil were there – Will guessed – was because he cancelled their plans of going to the beach. They only had the first week and the last two weeks of summer together because Lou Ellen and Cecil had to go on family vacations to Canada and Italy respectively. This meant that they needed to spend all the time they could together so that they could keep various traditions alive. Traditions such as visiting the carnival for ten hours straight (Lou Ellen’s idea) or eat ice cream till one of them puked (Cecil’s idea) or sleep at the beach (Wills idea). Some years the traditions had been broken, like the summer when they were fourteen and there hadn’t been a single sunny day the whole summer and the only activity to do was the cinema because it rained so much. Or the year when they were twelve and first their parents hadn’t allowed them to do some of the stuff they had planned and then they had a big fight and didn’t talk for three days. It had all ended fine with a big apology and a new tradition.   
And now his two best friends were standing in his room and looking at him like disappointed parents. It was a little funny, Will admitted to himself, how much their expressions looked like each other’s and how he knew that he could make an expression just like that.   
“Young man” Lou Ellen began holding up a finger in a half teasing half strict manner, maybe he wasn’t so far off with the disappointed parents thing “now is a good idea to tell us why you’re moping in your room and not throwing half eaten cherries after pedestrians walking by with your two best friends” she crossed her arms and Cecil – who had taken seat on Will’s bed nodded with and agreeing matter.   
“Well” Will began twisting his fingers a little “you know that I hung out with Nico yesterday, right?” Cecil and Lou Ellen nodded. He had texted them that he couldn’t hang out and they had asked why – he said that he was hanging out with Nico and the both responded with way to many winking emojis.  
“I don’t know what happened, everything was going just fine and we had fun but then we had to head home as it began raining and he just went from ‘laughing Nico’ to ‘Nico have officially given up’ I was about to ask him what happened but then the bus arrived at my stop and I didn’t have the time to ask” Will shrugged, he wanted to lay down on his bed but it was currently occupied but Cecil who had gone from just sitting on it to laying full starfish on it – leaving no space for Will. Lou Ellen has taken his only other chair so Will sat down and the floor and leaned up against the wall.   
“Maybe he was just disappointed that it began raining?” Cecil guessed looking up at the ceiling. It was white and had a few glow in the dark stars from when Will was younger. Cecil had looked at that ceiling a hundred times before.   
Will shook his head.  
“No, he had just talked about how he liked the rain but that he didn’t like people complaining about it, so the sky being grey was a good alternative” Will said and looked back and forth from Lou Ellen to Cecil. He was glad that his friend were here – not only had they already improved his mood a lot – they also genuinely seemed interested in knowing why Nico’s mood had changed. And they didn’t even tease him about it. Yet. He would get teased, but first when he was over the situation and ready to laugh about it. He had two brilliant friends.   
“Did he get a text? Maybe something bad happened and he didn’t want to worry you?” Lou Ellen said. Will’s phone bussed in his pocket.  
“Speaking of texts” he said looking at his phone. “I just got one from Nico!” Lou Ellen leaned a little forward when Will said it and a Cecil sat up.   
“What does it say?”   
“He writes: hey Will it was fun yesterday sorry if I acted weird” Will read for them. Cecil and Lou Ellen send each other a look.   
“Are you sure it wasn’t a date?” Cecil asked.  
“Yeah I’m sure it wasn’t a date, what should I text him back?” Will said a little annoyed. Why did everyone think that it was a date? He knew his friend could see right through him and his feelings but he had said to them that they were just hanging out. Because that’s what friends do. And Nico and him were friends. Right?  
“I’m just saying” Cecil said holding up his hands, there was a little drawing of a sun – probably done by Lou Ellen – on the left of his palm. “That if he thought it was a date and he then realised that you didn’t then he would be disappointed, if I thought I were on a date with someone I would feel pretty disappointed if they thought we were just ‘hanging out’” he finished and looked at Will like ‘I’m just saying”. It was a typical Cecil look.  
“But we talked with Piper earlier and when she asked if it was a date – why do people keep asking that by the way – then he very explicitly said that it wasn’t. And will you help me figuring out what to text back?” Will said. Lou Ellen reached out her hand and Will was about to give his phone to her when he realised how stupid it would be and took it back. He smiled.  
“Let me text, I think that’s safest” Will smiled. Lou had once changed all his contact names and Will hadn’t trusted her with his phone since. Lou Ellen crossed her arms but a smile was almost showing on her lips.   
“Just” Cecil looked like he was trying to find the right words “say that it’s cool, that you had a great time too and that you should do it again soon.”  
“Are you a hundred percent sure that it wasn’t a date? Because even though you keep saying that it wasn’t a date then it really sounds like it was” Lou Ellen leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.   
“Yes I’m sure” Will said while typing his response to Nico, being careful not to write what he was saying at the same time.   
“But, would you like it to be a date?” Cecil had abandoned his seat on the bed to sit beside Will in the floor. His look was almost knowing, just like Pipers and Annabeth had been.   
“I mean…” Will began his sentence but instead of finishing like a normal human being he just made some weird sound and hand movements to get his point across. Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow.   
“You mean what?” She said.  
“I mean yeah! I would like to – but like I said he very explicitly said that it wasn’t a date and thinking about it know he was probably also trying to apply that there never would be a date, and now he’s not replying to my text!” Will looked down on his phone with a sigh. Lou Ellen and Cecil shared another knowing look.   
“Hey,” Cecil rubbed Will’s shoulder “he’s probably just figuring out what to write like you did before and he probably doesn’t have any friends to help him at the moment”Cecil was most of the time the most calm of the three of them. Lou Ellen was definitely the most chaotic but that was kind of why their friendship worked.  
“Yeah, sorry. I – i just, I just really like him? He’s so sweet and if I messed up without even trying to get a chance? That would suck” Will leaned his head against his closet. His phone lit up signalling a new message from Nico. It said:  
Yeah we could hang out, I’m not doing anything the next couple weeks so if you’re free…  
Cecil – who had been reading the text at the same time as Will - punched his shoulder.  
“See? You haven’t messed up yet! Just take it slow and for the love of gods – don’t freak out”

Will Solace was freaking out. It was his fifth shift at Paradise ice cream, but that wasn’t why he was freaking out. He could handle working in the ice cream shop alone even on a busy day, and today was grey and a little rainy so there had only been a few customers.  
But Will was freaking out. On the other side of the street Will could see Nico walking and looking at his phone. From time to time he would look up like he was looking for something and then look down at his phone again. His leather jacket (how in the world did he manage to wear that in the heat? It was rainy but still really damp – which was almost worse) reflected the sunlight and he looked more angelic than normal. Will was freaking out because 1: he was staring and even though there was a pretty busy road between them Nico could still look up any moment and see him and 2: the last time he had talked with Nico was over text and he had freaked out because he thought he’d done something wrong and that Nico hated him. Or maybe not to that extent but he really did freak out a bit.   
You’re a mess Will thought and shook his head. To stop staring he focused on cleaning the counter. Which a good idea because a few seconds after Nico looked up from his phone and over at the ice cream shop. His eyes lit up and he crossed the street almost getting hit by a car. Will who just finished washing the counter had moved over to the tables. Looking back he didn’t know why he had taken the tall red and very uncomfortable chairs when there was two tables with completely normal chairs to sit in. But the past was the past and even though his butt had hurt when he stood up, but he couldn’t change what had happened. The glass doors opened and Nico looked in.  
“Hello” He said, almost shyly and gave a little awkward wave. Will waved back, and then realised that Nico was a customer and probably wanted some ice cream. He hurried behind the counter.  
“Hello, how can I help you” He said and picked up the ice cream scooper. Nico made a face that Will didn’t understand but before he knew it was gone. Nico just looked tired and a little nervous. Will didn’t understand that face either.   
“Do you – uh have, do you have coffee? Just normal coffee?” Nico shifted his weight from one foot to the other and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes. Will could melt on the spot. Snap out of it, he’s going to think you’re weird if you just stand there staring without doing anything.  
“One coffee on the way” Will smiled and turned around to make the coffee. It didn’t take long but Nico had taken a seat – in one of the good chairs – while he waited.   
“Here” Will leaned over the counter to hand it to Nico.   
“Thank you” He took it and sat down in the chair again, taking out a sketchbook, a pencil and an eraser. He opened the sketchbook and began drawing something occasionally takings sips of his coffee.  
Will didn’t know if he was allowed to ask what he was drawing. But he was just so curious, so he couldn’t help himself.  
“What are you drawing?” Will asked. Nico’s head snapped up and his cheeks reddened a little.  
“Uh um” he said, looking for words “I Uh draw portraits? Mostly, or just like what I see – people around me, nature you know all the different the stuff” he shrugged.  
“That’s cool!” Will said “my brother Austin draws too, he’s actually pretty good, how long have you been drawing?”   
“Hm, forever I think? I can’t remember not drawing a guess” Nico shrugged again.  
“I know that a lot of people don’t like other people seeing their art and stuff, and if you don’t want to it’s totally fine – but uh can I – can I have a look?” Will said. Nico looked down at his drawing – probably deciding if it was a good idea to show it to Will.   
“Why not” he said but instead of handing his sketchbook to Will, he found another sketchbook from his bag. He handed it to Will who took it and began looking.  
The drawings were breathtaking. They were all done in either pencil or pen. Most of them were people and their interactions with each other. He saw a drawing of Annabeth and a boy that Will was pretty sure was named Percy and he saw a drawing of Piper laughing. He saw a drawing of a girl with curly hair and a paintbrush in her hand. She were on a lot of the drawings, almost always painting something. Will couldn’t see what she was painting because none of them were coloured with more than blue, red and grey. Some of the last drawings were mainly eyes. The same eyes – mostly made with the blue pen. Will felt like he had seen the eyes before but he couldn’t quite put his finger on when.   
And the last drawing was definitely Will’s favourite. It was a drawing of Nico and the curly haired girl. They were looking at each other like they were just about to laugh. The page stood out because of two things, the first thing was that it was taped in and the second thing was that it was coloured with more than just three colours. Watercolour had given the girl her golden shoes and Nico his black leather jacket. The watercolour had given them an almost glowing look and Will couldn’t tear his eyes from the page. The colours were calming but at the same time they gave him an enormous energy boost. Will couldn’t describe it.  
“Nico this is” Will took a deep breath “this is amazing, i – wow” he closed the sketchbook and looked up at Nico who was looking right back at him. He had a waiting, almost scared expression – like Will was about to tell him how much he sucked. When he heard Will’s words the expression didn’t completely disappear. He still looked a little scared but at the same time relived. Will couldn’t quite describe it. When Will was with Nico he had a hard time describing a lot of things.  
“I, uh, ha thank you, that – that means a lot to me” He scratched the back of his head and looked down.  
“Especially the last drawing” Will said and handed the sketchbook back to Nico.  
“I mean, everything about it – the look on you and the girls face – almost glowing and with the colours too? I mean just wow” Nico seemed to relax when he heard Will’s words. Had he expected Will to say anything else?  
“The girl, my sister – she did the colouring” Nico said. Will’s eyes lit up – of course Nico had an artistic sister.  
“And thank you again”   
“No problem – really wow, you’re so good at expressions! Like some of the last drawings – the eyes especially – even though I couldn’t see more than the eyes then I still felt like I knew exactly what the person felt!” Will rambled on for a couple of minutes about how good the drawings were – resulting in a very flustered Nico. When Will mentioned the last drawing for the third time Nico began explaining why they had drawn it. They did it quite often actually – him and Hazel liked drawing things together and seeing it come to life. Will listened carefully, absorbing all the information he got – sometimes telling a little about his siblings too. The conversation moved on to a lot of different things and Will found himself laughing almost constantly.   
The days customers was mostly made of Nico ordering more coffee and a few parents with their kids. When Nico and Will wasn’t talking – mostly because of customers or people calling to order something - Nico sketched. A lot. He also sketched while they talked. He felt inspired he said. Like he couldn’t stop drawing. Will understood – he knew what it felt like when inspiration hit him and he didn’t feel like Nico wasn’t active in the conversation when he was drawing.   
The day passed surprisingly quickly. When Will had seen the weather that morning he had prepared himself for a boring day. But as soon as Nico had arrived he had totally forgotten about the time. And with a blink of an eye his shift was over. He began packing everything down to get ready to close the store. Nico began packing his things up but was interrupted by a phone call.   
“Hey Hazel” He said. Hazel began talking about something and Nico smiled to himself. Will was supposed to be sweeping the floor but how could he do that when Nico was standing there looking like and angel? He had taken his leather jacket on and the hand that wasn’t his lung the phone was on his packed backpack. He could step on me and I would thank him Will decided.   
Will had to mentally slap himself so he wouldn’t be staring for too long and quickly finished that last things that needed to be done. He finished closing the ice cream shop at the same time Nico said goodbye to his sister.   
“Are you taking the bus too?” Nico asked while Will looked the door. Will nodded and they began walking towards the bus.   
The walk wasn’t long and they didn’t have to wait for the bus for more than two minutes so soon after they were sitting together on the bus. Nico was looking for his earphones and Will was looking for music on Nico’s phone.  
“Wow, there’s a lot of different genres of music on your phone” Will said surprised Nico had more playlists on his phone than Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen combined.   
“What can I say? I listen to a lot of music” Nico said and handed one of the earbuds to Will.  
“Can I choose” Nico gestured to the phone.  
“Sure” Will was happy to hand the phone to him. He had no idea what he would choose if Nico had asked him. Nico scrolled through a couple playlists, his tongue sticking out in concentration.   
The universe most love to torture me Will thought – because no one was allowed to be that cute.   
“There” Nico said and pressed on the screen. Guitar filled his ears and not soon after a woman began singing. Her voice was calming and somehow Will felt better just by listening.   
“This is good” Will said and looked down on Nico.  
“Yeah I thought you’d like it” Nico said and looked out the window. Will leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

I can’t keep my feet on the ground   
And there’s a million ways  
I could mess it up, I always do

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. He had to make sure that he got off on the right stop. Will wondered how Nico had known that Will would like this song.   
“There’s one stop till I have to get off” Will said. Nico looked back at him and nodded.  
“You have time to hear the rest of the song then” he said. Will smiled.  
“Good” 

You’re better of with some other hopeless jerk   
And I like you  
But what can I do  
There’s too much space to make you stay  
There’s too much space to make you stay

Nico was right, just as the song stopped the bus did the same. Will waved and said goodbye. Nico waved too. Then the bus’s doors closed and Nico drove away. Will smiled and began walking the rest of the way home. A growing feeling in his stomach made Will a little giddy. He needed to talk to Cecil and Lou Ellen. But first he texted Nico.  
Hey, what was the name of the song? ;)  
Will felt warm and happy. And then the sun shined through the clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyy! Thank you for reading!  
> Also the song they were listening to is Why Bother by Allison Weiss and it’s really good I def recommend. I listened to Dead girl in the pool by girl in red while writing this so I recommend that too!
> 
> If you see any errors then please comment them and I’ll fix them. Or just comment if you want to. It would absolutely make my day!  
> Also I live for artist!Nico so that needed to be in this AU  
> Well that was all, have a good day!


	4. This literally is so unimportant I’m sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing happens. I promise something will happen in the next chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry for not posting at all. I just procrastinated so much. I’m sorry. I was very busy with moving and stuff. Well here it is...

It rained every day from morning to night for the rest of the week. Not that it put a damper on Will’s mood. Quite the opposite actually, every time he looked outside he would be reminded of Nico and then he would smile and blush a little. Don’t blame him, he’s soft and he likes Nico very much. Shut up.  
He of course told Cecil and Lou Ellen everything and they congratulated him and Lou Ellen made a long speech about how her son was growing up so fast. Cecil stopped her about five sentences in – saying that she was the youngest of the three and also the shortest. She then said that he was grounded the rest of the week and Cecil didn’t have anything to say to that – he wouldn’t risk anything and he didn’t want to be grounded for longer time than necessary.  
They hung out a lot – Cecil, Lou Ellen and Will. They mostly spend the time watching different movies and making different kinds of crappy art. Mostly poetry and weird songs. Will’s family was very musically talented so they could use all kinds of different instruments.  
Every time they wrote a new song (no matter how crappy it was) they discussed the pros and cons of posting it on YouTube. And every time they agreed that there were more cons than pros and that the world would never get a chance to get its ears blessed by the sound Cecil trying to burp the alphabet while Will was playing the ukulele. The song was called This Smells Like Velociraptor and you don’t need to ask more questions.  
Even though Will spend most of his time hanging out with his friends he still somehow found time to text Nico. And talk about Nico. And think about Nico. And sigh about about Nico.  
(“Not that I want anyone to have a crush on me – but if anyone ever does they better be as smitten with me as you are with Nico” Lou Ellen said. Saying that Will blushed would be an understatement).  
Cecil and Lou Ellen thought it was cute but after Will telling them how his eyes just lit up so beautifully for the twentieth time they had enough.  
“Just talk to him dude” Cecil said, once again laying like a star fish in Will’s bed. They had just watched a movie and when something had reminded Will of Nico he had began talking – quickly getting side tracked when he remembered something funny Nico had said in chemistry once. Cecil knew that Will wasn’t going to stop talking so interrupting him was the only way to go.  
“I guess you’re right” Will shrugged but opened his phone anyway.  
He just wrote hi, but what else where there to write? Writing anything like “it was fun hanging out with you” would be weird. Will didn’t want to seem weird. Will – he realised – was as also overthinking this. It really wasn’t like him to overthink text to his friends. Or even his former crushes. If it was just a hi then it couldn’t be too weird. But maybe it was. Could it be weird? No. Could it? Maybe it could? Nico didn’t think he was weird. Did he? No. No he didn’t.  
Lou Ellen was sitting at Wills table, legs swinging back and forth.  
“There’s a thing that confuses me” she said “why in the world would Nico go to by coffee at the ice cream shop you work at? There’s a lot of different coffee shops and from what I’ve heard he lives kinda far away – why would he go to the place where you sell ice cream?” She was looking at Will in that kind of way that said she was waiting for him to realise something. Will didn’t get what she was trying to say. Cecil did though.  
“Oh” his face lit up “yeah – I think you’re right Lou, the coffee there isn’t even that good” Cecil looked at Will with the same expression as Lou Ellen. Will still didn’t get it.  
“He went out of his way to drink coffee where you work?” Lou Ellen said and leaned a little forward.  
“He was – if I’m remembering correctly from the story you’ve told me at least fifteen times – looking at his phone, kinda like he was looking at a map?” Cecil said pointedly and leaned forward too.  
“You both keep hinting at something that I don’t get” Will said and looked from Cecil faces to Lou Ellen’s.  
Cecil leaned backwards again and Lou Ellen face palmed.  
“He likes you too idiot” Lou Ellen groaned from behind her hands.  
“You think he does?”  
“I not only think he does – it would be weird if all the things he did meant that he didn’t like you back”  
“Wow” Will said.  
“Wow” Cecil said for a completely different reason.  
Maybe they’re right Will thought. Or maybe they aren’t and I’m setting myself up for a heartbreak. It could be both, but the latter seemed more likely. 

Later that day Will was sitting at dinner with his family. Kayla was telling a story about one of her friends. She made big hand movements and almost knocked her glass over.. Will couldn’t remember the friends name and he didn’t really care – Kayla would definitely tell the story again sometime so he wasn’t missing out on anything. Besides he was deep in thought. What if Cecil and Lou Ellen was right? Could he be that lucky? Maybe. But he could also mess up and lose Nico as a friend. He wouldn’t want that. Kayla was almost done with her story and Will had come to the conclusion that he wouldn’t tell Nico about his feelings. If Nico liked him he would know from how Will looked at him and then he could say something. And if he couldn’t then Will would just not say anything. Yes that was an excellent plan. If Will wasn’t eating then he would pat himself on the back. 

Later that night Will was thinking of the possibility of Nico liking him again. He was laying in bed and should be trying to sleep but he couldn’t. If Nico liked him back – like Cecil and Lou Ellen said – then his plan was bad. After thinking about the same thing for twenty minutes Will decided that he would need to think about it the next morning. Just then his phone vibrated. Will normally wouldn’t check it but he did anyway. The text was from Nico.  
From Nico: hi, what’s up?  
He should wait for the next morning to answer. That would make sense. Why was Nico up now anyways?  
To Nico: not much – I wanted to go to the beach but the weather didn’t want that  
Will apparently didn’t have any self control.  
From Nico: haha yeah  
From Nico: I just spend the day drawing  
To Nico: more productive than me  
Maybe everyone was just up at this time of the night because Will also got a text from Piper.  
From Pipe the pope: hello peasant some of the others and me was thinking about going to the beach – wanna join us?  
From Pipe the pope: Nico is coming too if that sweetens the pot ;););)  
To Pipe the pope: ha ha yeah yeah I’ll come  
To Pipe the pope: what times is it and which beach?  
From Pipe the pope: the only beach you can get to without a car  
From Pipe the pope: and we’ll meet at like twelve  
From Pipe the pope: I know it’s early  
From Pipe the pope: but you just have to deal with that  
To Pipe the pope: yeah cool, see ya  
From Pipe the pope: see ya later  
From Pipe the pope: alligator  
From Pipe the pope: I couldn’t resist  
From Nico: piper keeps bugging me about going to the beach  
To Nico: ha she just wrote to me  
To Nico: about the beach  
To Nico: she said you were coming  
From Nico: she did?  
To Nico: yeah I was a little surprised too  
To Nico: didn’t seem like your thing  
From Nico: are you coming  
To Nico: yeah  
From Nico: cool  
To Nico: shouldn’t you be sleeping? You kept complaining about being tired the other day  
From Nico: idk why aren’t you sleeping?  
To Nico: i was about to sleep but then you wrote  
From Nico: aww  
To Nico: but you really should sleep  
From Nico: you should too  
Neither of them went to sleep then. It was funnier texting with each other anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for reading!  
> A little note on the end here is that maybe I’ll make every fifth chapter from Nico’s POV instead of Will’s... please comment your opinion on it because I’d like to start on writing the chapter as quickly as possible... anyway have a good day!


End file.
